UH Student is Named Winner of Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
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Posted: Oct 28, 2002

Brian A. Leamy, a student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, was one of 79 undergraduate students nationwide chosen to receive an Undergraduate Scholarship from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, which operates one of the nation‘s most generous scholarship programs.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation receives more than $500 million in assets from the estate of Jack Kent Cooke, the late media mogul who also owned the Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Redskins. The foundation works to recognize and aid students who embody intelligence and are involved in making the community and world a more improved place.

The Undergraduate Scholarships, awarded to 79 students representing 37 states and Washington D.C., provide up to $30,000 annually per year to students. The 79 students represent two groups: students transferring from community colleges to four-year schools, and juniors and seniors continuing at their current four-year schools.

This particular scholarship was designed to help these two groups of students who may not have the same scholarship opportunities as college freshmen, which can lead to their inability to complete their college career despite their best efforts. The foundation found that this is especially a problem for community college students intending to transfer, and seeks to make a major investment in these undergraduates who would have had to forego completion of their higher education or take on crushing debt burdens without the support.

Leamy earned an associate‘s degree in liberal arts from Honolulu Community College in the summer of 2002 and is continuing his studies this fall at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
Leamy will apply his scholarship towards his aspirations of obtaining a master‘s degree in hospital administration and becoming a hospital administrator at a facility in Hawaiʻi. He is currently working towards a bachelor‘s degree in business.

Leamy‘s desire to study hospital and business administration was sparked while working part-time at a regional office of the Department of Veterans Affairs as a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve. His first hand experience has led him to believe that inefficiencies in certain processes exist, including a one-to two-year wait needed in order for veteran claims to be processed, and has inspired him to gain a degree in information management systems.